Elastic clamp for fixation of rails



Dec. 4, 1956 M. PROT ELASTIC CLAMP FOR F'IXATION OF RAILS Filed July 24, 1953 United States Patent .0

2,772,835 ELASTIC CLAMP FOR FIXATION or RAILS Marcel Prot, Paris, France, assignor to Societe Industrielle de Liaisons Electriques, Paris, France, a corporation of France Application July 24, 1953, Serial No. 369,998

4 Claims. (Cl. 238349) The object of the invention consists of a metallic clamp designed to fix elastically railroad rails of flange or girder type onto their supports: sleepers, stretchers, etc. The present invention can be utilized for the securement of said rails onto sleepers of materials such as wood, metal, re-inforced concrete or any other appropriate material. Said clamp can be secured to a sleeper or cross tie by means of a lag-screw, bolt, eyebolt or any other appropriate means.

The present invention is characterized in being constituted of a piece of sheet steel comprising a flat trapezoidal shoe of which the large base is designed to be applied against the edge of the flange, whereas the small base can, if desired, press against the edge of a notch designed for the shoe in the support (for example a sleeper), said flat shoe extending at each side into two wings arranged in spiral form, the extremities being free and directed towards the base, slightly twisted towards the large base in a manner to overhang in relation to the large base of the shoe and bear elastically on the rail flange, exercising on said flange a pressure resulting from the elastic deformation of the spirals when the clamp shoe is fixed onto the rail support, for example by the agency of a lag screw or bolt.

The annexed drawing represents, as examples, two methods of realising the present invention. In this draw- Fig. 1 is a plan view of the first method of realising the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation view;

Fig. 3 is an elevation cross section of the lines IIIIII of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but representing the second method of realising the present invention.

In all these figures, the rail, lag-screw and sleeper are indicated by dotted lines.

In Figs. 1 to 3, the sheet steel clamp comprises a central part or seat, plane 1, in a trapezoid form, the two bases being indicated AB and CD. At the sides, the flat part is extended at each side by wings in spiral form 2, 3, of which the free extremities x-y are vertical, directed towards the base and terminating by rims ab, cd, slightly inclined in accordance with :the upper surface of flange 4 of the rail onto which said rims are desired to press, as shown in the figures. The large base AB of the flat part 1 heretofore mentioned is designed to be applied against the edge 5 of the rail, in such a manner that the vertical tongues x, y of the spirals are overhanging in relation to the large base of shoe I. Said shoe 1 comprises a hole 6 for the passage of the lag screw (or bolt) 7 for fixing the clamp, onto sleeper 8 for example. Said sleeper comprises also a shallow notch in which is placed shoe 1 and against the edge of which is applied, during assembling, the small base CD ofsaid shoe or flat part of clamp.

Spirals 2 and 3 are arranged in such a manner during assembling that tongues x, y, which press onto the upper surface of the flange, are elastically deformed dur- 2,772,835 Patented Dec. 1956 l Ice ing the tightening of lag screw 7 and exercise in their turn a powerful clamping of the rail onto the sleeper.

When, during the passage of a vehicle, the rail, under the pressure to which it is submitted, causes the elastic flexing of shoe 1 and sleeper 8, tongues x, y'of the clamp accompany elastically the rail in its descent and also in its ascent after the passage of each axle, in such a manner that shocks are never produced, neither between. the rail and the clamp nor between the clamp and the lag screw.

While the tongues exercise a downward pressure on,

the flange of the rail, the central part of the clamp exercises permanently, by reaction, an upward pressure on the head of the lag screw, thus assuring an impossibility of any loosening of the connection.

By suitably arranging the dimensions of the dilferent parts of the clamp, and its thickness, the desired clamping can be obtained, defined by the force necessary for imposing a given deformation to the tongues.

It will be understood that the clamp constitutes a robust stop opposed to side movements of the rail on the side where said clamp is fixed, since it is held on the one hand on the lag screw, and on the other against the edge of the notch arranged in the sleeper for the part CD, as stated heretofore. As the rims AB and CD are applied, the first against the edge of the flange and the second against the notch of the sleeper, any rotation of the clamp around the lag screw, under the influence of the movement of the rail, is equally impossible.

It should also be noted that the lag screw bears in a perfectly correct method in all the extent of its lower surface, on the central part of the clamp, which itself bears upon the sleeper by all the extent of its flat part, which assures the tightening being correctly eflected with a filling of pitch or tar, the complete prevention of water penetrating into the sleeper and rotting the wood in contact with the threads of the lag screw. The lag screw thus fixed has no tendency to loosen, nor to accentuate its play.

The flexible parts of the clamp possess about the same qualities of resistance, this ensures a maximum deformation and at the same time a moderate and equally distributed strain of the metal.

Each clamp comprises one piece only and the same type can be utilized indifierently for any part of a rail as well as in proximity of a fish plate.

The variation according to Fig. 4 differs from the method heretofore described only by the fact that tongues x, y press on the flange of the rail by a flat part instead of their edge, in order to eflect this, said flat part is formed by raising slightly the extremities of said tongues as indicated by u, v, according to the inclination of the upper surface of the rail. The assembly and operation remains the same as heretofore described.

I claim:

1. In combination, a sleeper, a flange type rail resting on said sleeper, a metallic elastic clamp for securing the rail to said sleeper, a lag screw to secure said clamp to said sleeper, said sleeper having a notch therein near said rail, said clamp comprising a piece of spring sheet steel forming a flat shoe portion resting solidly upon the sleeper and having a generally trapezoidal form and including a large base applied against the edge of the rail flange and a small base pressing against the edge of said notch, opposed wings extending upwardly from oposite sides of the flat shoe in spiral form and having the extremities free and directed towards the large base and slightly inclined towards the rail flange so that the extremities overhang in relation to the large base of the shoe and bear elastically on the rail flange to exercise a pressure on said flange resulting from the elastic deformation of the said wings when the flat shoe portion is secured to the sleeper by means of the said lag screw.

2. The combinatiomofclaim 1, in which the extremit es. 9 th .WQESDQQI yut a ed i wi enprmall a ains the upper surface of the rail flange.

3. The elastic clamp of claim 1, in which the free extrernities pfthe Wings areflreversely bent in-such a manner as topress flatwise againstthe top ofthe rail flange.

4. Avclamp for .securing 'flanged rails to sleepersconsisting of a unitary sheet of steelcomprising a central fiat trapezoidal shoe portion for securernent solidly to a sleeper having a large base portion for bearing against'the edge of the railfiange and a smaller base portion spaced from thegflange, a pair of curved resilient spring portions extending upwardly in a spiral manner from the lateral edges of the shoe with the extremities thereof ,wi edig fiw werdlwp s t re ien Pres h l n of the rail against the sleeper near the larger base of the shoe portion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

